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Equipping students with the mindsets, skills and habits they need to succeed
Social Awareness
A Key Component of Social-Emotional Learning

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Contents
1. Introduction to Social Awareness
2. Defining Social Awareness
3. Why Social Awareness Matters
4. Social Awareness in the Classroom
5. Wrapping Up

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Introduction
Research shows that social-emotional skills like social awareness, self-management,
and growth mindset are crucial to college and career readiness
– Parents and teachers have long known the importance of these skills and have
taught them to their students
– Current standardized tests don’t assess these skills
– Schools don’t always prioritize these skills or give teachers the support they need
and the credit they deserve for teaching these skills

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Objectives
In this session you will:
– Build a deeper understanding of social awareness, one example of a
social-emotional competency that can help students succeed
– Leave with at least one specific strategy or technique that you could try in the
classroom to support your students in developing social awareness
– Identify the role a teacher can play in helping students develop social awareness,
including by modeling social awareness strategies for students

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Emotional Intelligence
Social Capital
Perspective Taking
Cultural Competency
Social
Awareness
Social Awareness is the ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from
diverse backgrounds and cultures; to understand social and ethical norms for behavior;
and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
Defining Social Awareness

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Emotional Intelligence
Social Capital
Perspective Taking
Cultural Competency
Social
Awareness
Defining Social Awareness
What we know about Social Awareness comes from multiple strands of research on concepts like
emotional intelligence, social capital, social perspective taking, and cultural competency.
How do these relate? Being socially aware means having the ability to:
• recognize one’s own emotions and other people’s emotions
• use information about emotions to guide thinking and behavior
• discern the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of others
• understand how others view a particular situation
• understand social and ethical norms for behavior
• recognize and use family, school, and community resources and supports
• be aware of one’s own cultural identity and views about differences of culture
Emotional Intelligence
Social Perspective Taking
Social Capital
Cultural Competency

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Defining Social Awareness: Student Voice

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Activity #1: Share your voice
Group Discussion:
What does social awareness look like in your classroom?
When do students use social awareness?
In what ways do your students excel in this area?
In what ways do your students struggle with social
awareness?
How does this impact the classroom climate? What about
student learning?

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Social Awareness Matters

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Why Social Awareness Matters: Summary
– Positive Classroom Climate: Students with strong social awareness adapt more
easily to their environment, empathize with the perspectives of others, and engage
in fewer disruptive classroom behaviors. This, in turn, creates an environment
where students can focus on learning.
– Better Relationships: Students who demonstrate strong social awareness are able
to engage in constructive communication with their peers and resolve conflicts
when they arise. These students benefit from peer learning and know how to take
advantage of social supports.
– Fewer Risky Behaviors: Students who are able to adapt to new environments,
understand the needs and perspectives of others, and know where to get support
when they need it are less prone to emotional distress and less likely to engage in
risky behaviors, such as drug use and aggression, that interfere with school success.
– Greater Career Success: An employer survey conducted by the Partnership for 21st
Century Skills demonstrates that four of the five most important skills for high
school graduates entering the work force are linked to social awareness:
professionalism, collaboration, communication, and social responsibility.

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Social Awareness in the Classroom

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Social Awareness in the Classroom
A variety of practices exist for improving students’ social awareness at every grade
level. The following research-based strategies are sample approaches to developing
the many aspects of social awareness.
These strategies include elements of
• Building positive relationships
• Emotional intelligence
• Cooperative learning
• Social perspective taking
Choose the strategies that are most
age-appropriate, culturally relevant,
and aligned with your teaching style
Elementary Grades
Middle Grades
Secondary Grades
We use the following key to
indicate the grades for which
each strategy is most relevant:
E
M
S

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Building Positive Relationships
Positive relationships in schools are important for families, teachers, and students.
Research suggests that positive social interactions support students’ social and academic
development. They also help students feel safe and supported.
What makes a teacher-student relationship
positive?
• Mutually respectful and supportive
• Open communication
• Empathy, warmth, and genuineness
• Closeness, trust, care, and cooperation
Through this secure relationship, students are
more confident and better equipped to explore
the world around them and learn about socially
appropriate behaviors as well as academic
expectations.

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Sample Strategy: Active, Constructive Responding
Social awareness is not just for students: when teachers improve their own social
awareness, they are better positioned to model and teach these strategies.
Effective communication and strong relationships support both students’ and adults’
development of social awareness. One communication strategy that helps strengthen
relationships is Active and Constructive Responding. To practice active, constructive responding:
“Responses from others
perceived to be active and
constructive were associated
with emotional well-being
and better relationship
quality, whereas responses
perceived to be destructive or
passive were negatively
associated with these
outcomes” (Gable, et al.,
2004, pg. 242).
• Encourage students and colleagues to share
positive news with one another.
• When a student or colleague shares something
positive, use an active and constructive
response (e.g., enthusiastic support), as
opposed to a passive–constructive response (e.g.,
quiet, understated support), an active–
destructive response (e.g., quashing the event),
or a passive–destructive responses (e.g., ignoring
the event).
E M S

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Sample Strategy: Active, Constructive Responding

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Sample Strategy: Wise Critical Feedback
Providing Wise Critical Feedback to students can strengthen student-teacher
relationships by mitigating any mistrust that may exist due to a student’s perception
that bias plays a role in the feedback provided by an educator. “Wise critical feedback”
(described below) has been shown to improve students’ academic outcomes. Research
finds this strategy especially effective in grades 7-12, particularly with students of color
and students from low-income communities.
“Minority students’ prior
encounters with
discrimination and their
awareness of the
significance of race can
affect their academic
outcomes by influencing
the way that they
interpret ongoing school
experiences” (Yeager, et al.,
2014, pg. 807)
To provide “wise, critical feedback,” teachers must reinforce their high
expectations and their belief in a student’s potential though every instance
of feedback. When providing written or verbal feedback to students, be
sure to communicate:
1) that you’re providing this feedback because you have high standards
for the student, and
2) that you believe in the student’s ability to meet those standards.
M S

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Sample Strategy: Engaging Families
Engaging families in their child’s education improves opportunities for support; however,
typical family engagement strategies may not align with the needs of low-income
families. To enhance family involvement, consider using the following strategies:
Make sure opportunities for family involvement are accessible to parents and guardians who work
multiple jobs, don’t have access to paid leave, are unable to afford child care, and/or rely on public
transportation. Start by providing transportation and on-site child care for family-focused events.
Reach out to families early and often. Many low-income parents and guardians experienced school as a
hostile environment when they were students. Any hesitance educators experience when reaching out is
not necessarily ambivalence about school. It might reflect reasonable distrust for the education system.
Alternatively, it might be related to long work hours or lack of access to a phone or internet. Be persistent.
Facilitate ongoing communication rather than
reaching out only when something is wrong.
This builds trust by nurturing a positive
relationship and can help create an equitable
classroom environment across all dimensions
of diversity.
E M S

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Emotional Intelligence
Recognizing and understanding emotions in ourselves and in others can help improve our social
interactions.
It is important to remember that emotional expressions may vary based on cultural norms. Watch
this video for a summary of the research on how emotions differ across cultures. What are the
implications of this research for a multicultural classroom?
Every interaction with another person involves Emotional Intelligence. Teachers
are constantly using their Emotional Intelligence to help educate learners. Emotional
Intelligence consists of 5 skills, which make up the acronym “RULER”:
o Recognizing emotions
o Understanding emotions
o Labeling emotions
o Expressing emotions
o Regulating emotions

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Sample Strategy: Using Media to Recognize and Label Emotions
Media & Emotion: Students are exposed to various forms of media on a daily basis. Use
examples of media to help students understand the use of emotions, as well as develop
their ability to recognize and label emotions. For example, advertisements often intend to
manipulate our emotions: a product commercial may try to invoke sadness, happiness,
laughter, or anger, with the intent of gaining our trust and/or changing our ideas and
desires. Children may be surprised at how easily their emotions can be manipulated.
Students can analyze commercials, develop their own
commercials, or think about other forms of media (e.g.
snapchat or twitter) and how they relate to emotions. High
school students might analyze political commercials or social
media ads, while elementary school students might identify
pictures about products or services to identify the emotions
they are intended to elicit.
E M S

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Sample Strategy: Journaling to Understand Emotions
Journal Writing: Frequent journal writing can help students reflect on academic
content as well as their emotional connection to the material, their peers, and their
teachers. By regularly identifying their emotions and the emotions of others, students
will develop their ability to recognize, understand, label, and express emotions.
A sample journal assignment for 8th grade includes having students record their reflections after
each project or assignment for which they worked in a group. Throughout the year, students
maintain a journal that is frequently reviewed by the teacher. Prompts can help elicit reflection in
order to have students practice identifying and labeling emotions.
Sample prompts:
• Did your group complete its goal(s)?
• How do you feel abut the group’s effort toward finishing the assignment?
• List some actions you took to help the group finish the assignment.
• How do you feel about your level of effort? Could you have done more?
• How did participants treat one another throughout the project?
• How did it feel to work in this particular group? What made it feel that way?
E M S

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Cooperative Learning
Cooperative Learning takes places when students work together toward a common
goal, typically in small teams of students with varying abilities.
Cooperative learning works best when students:
• work together to complete the assignment
• are held accountable for the group’s final
outcome
• use interpersonal skills, such as decision making,
conflict resolution, and effective communication
• reflect on the team’s strengths and weaknesses
for improvement
Cooperative Learning helps students understand peers’ perspectives and
incorporate those perspective into decision making

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Sample Strategy: The Jigsaw Classroom
The Jigsaw Classroom is a research-based cooperative learning technique for group
work. While this strategy applies to all grades, research has shown that it has the
strongest effect in elementary grades. This strategy has been shown to reduce racial
conflict and improve educational outcomes including higher test scores, reduced
absenteeism, and greater interest in school.
See handout for 10 specific steps to implement the Jigsaw Classroom
In the jigsaw approach, students are divided into diverse groups and assigned distinct tasks under a
common topic. Students become independent experts on their subtopic and work with leaders of the
same task from other groups. Then, each person returns and teaches their original group about their area
of expertise.
• Students become valuable resources to each other.
• The process encourages listening, engagement, and
empathy by giving each member of the group an
essential part to play in the academic activity.
• No student can succeed completely unless everyone
works well together as a team.
• This “cooperation by design” facilitates interaction
among all students in the class, leading them to value
each other as contributors to their common task.
E M S

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Constructive Controversy is a research-based cooperative learning technique primarily
for students in middle and high school.
Benefits of this approach include:
• Improved student engagement
• Increased curiosity in students
• More positive attitude toward class
and instruction
• Improved academic achievement
This strategy builds on debate and group discussion formats. One common approach is to assign a
cooperative group goal (e.g., passing a test or writing a report). Each group splits into subgroups, which
take sides on a particular topic and research their respective positions in order to develop a persuasive
argument. The subgroups spend time presenting their argument and refuting the opposition. Finally, the
subgroups must take the opposite position, resulting in a synthesis of both positions that represents
students’ best reasoned judgment.
Sample Strategy: Constructive Controversy
See handout for additional information
M S

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Social Perspective Taking
Age Five developmental stages of perspective taking
3-6
Undifferentiated Perspective Taking:
Children understand that self and others can have different thoughts and feelings, but they tend to
confuse thoughts and feelings
6-8
Social Informational (or Subjective) Perspective Taking:
Children understand that different perspectives may result because people have access to different
information
8-10
Self-Reflective Perspective Taking:
Children can “step into another person’s shoes” and view their own thoughts, feelings, and behavior
from the other person’s perspective
10-12
Third-party (Mutual) Perspective Taking:
Children can step outside a two person situation and imagine how they and others are viewed by a
third party
12-15+
Societal Perspective Taking:
Adolescents now consider others’ perspectives with reference to the social environment and culture
the other person comes from, assuming that the other person believes and acts within their society’s
norms and values
Social Perspective Taking is the capacity to discern the thoughts, feelings, motivations, and
points of view of others. Researchers have identified multiple stages in the development of
perspective taking, which are described in more detail below:

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The Role of Social Identities in Developing Social Awareness
Also, consider how various social identities may intersect with the developmental
stages described on p. 24. For example, how might racial or ethnic identity and
experiences of discrimination and bias influence the way(s) in which a child
perceives herself and her peers?
Helms’ (1994 & 2003) work on racial identity theory is based on the premise that all people of color are
exposed to racial socialization. She describes the common stages of identity development as:
• Conformity- active or passive devaluing of people of color, and idealization of white groups
• Dissonance- identity confusion, self-consciousness and preoccupation with unanswered
questions about oneself as a racial being
• Immersion- idealization by individuals of their own racial groups
• Emersion- use of own-group external standards to self-define; valuing of own-group loyalty
• Internalization- positive commitment to one’s own group
• Integrative awareness- capacity to value one’s own collective identity as well as empathize and
collaborate with members of other groups
Other social identities – such as nationality, socio-economic status, sexual orientation,
gender, physical ability, religion – may also intersect with students’ development of
social awareness.

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Activity #2: Share your voice
Group Discussion:
In the chart on p. 24, identify which description of
development aligns most closely with the grade level(s)
you teach.
Which of the social identities mentioned on p. 25 may
also be relevant to your students’ development of social
awareness?
Think of a time when a student struggled with an aspect
of social perspective taking that is age-appropriate. What
was the scenario? Was there a particular strategy s/he
applied?

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Sample Strategy: Using Popular Music in Social Studies
Tatum’s (2003) work on racial identity development notes that avoiding conversations
about race can perpetuate the development of racism and segregation. Integrating
historical and popular music into social studies classes is one strategy to spark and
facilitate an engaging discussion about racial issues.
M S
As an alternative, or in addition to, documents, speeches, photographs, diaries,
or other artifacts, using music as a primary source for discussion can help
emphasize larger historical movements, evoke personal feelings, and illuminate
historical and current racial issues.
Sample activity: Analyzing song lyrics
• Students can work together (e.g., think-pair-share) to analyze song lyrics.
• This activity can aid students in exploring racial stereotypes. Students can
see that while some artists might perpetuate negative images of African
American youth, others reference specific historical racial tensions, protests,
or current issues.
• Students can connect lyrics to their broader
historical context and express their findings in
discussions, reflections, research papers, or
presentations.

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Sample Strategy: Perspective Taking Through Biographies
Reading Biographies helps students become immersed in another person’s perspective
and experience. Reading narratives about another person’s experience can build
empathy, strengthen peer relationships, and enhance pro-social behaviors.
Gallery Walk: Students create text and visuals or other creative expressions that convey the unique
experiences of the person featured in the biography. Students then conduct a “gallery walk,” spending time
at each student’s station to learn about a new person and their experiences.
Students must understand their chosen person sufficiently to answer questions
that peers or teachers may pose. In the process, students learn about that
person’s perspective and circumstances, as well as how these factors relate to
the person’s actions and/or emotions.
E M S

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Closing Activity: Planning for Implementation
Of the various strategies we’ve discussed today,
which one do you want to commit to trying?
Questions to consider:
• What planning / preparation is required?
• How do you plan to address anticipated
challenges?
• How might this strategy be integrated into your
existing practices, strategies, or lesson planning?
Active and Constructive Responding
Integrating Historical and Popular Music
Reading Biographies
Constructive Controversy
The Jigsaw Classroom
Journal Writing
Media & Emotion
Wise Critical Feedback
Engaging Families

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Want to Know More?
Social Awareness
• Teaching Social Awareness
• Racial Equity Tools
• Teaching Math with Cooperative Learning
• Facing History and Ourselves
• Social Skills for Middle School Students
• Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?
• Emotional Intelligence Is the Missing Piece
Social-Emotional Learning
• Transforming Education toolkit on Growth
Mindset
• Transforming Education toolkit on Self-
Management
• A National Teacher Survey on How Social
and Emotional Learning Can Empower
Children and Transform Schools
• Smart Hearts: Social and Emotional
Learning Overview
• The Heart-Brain Connection: The
Neuroscience of Social and Emotional
Learning

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